title: Increased prefrontal volume in PD with levodopa-induced dyskinesias: a voxel-based morphometry study.
abstract: Levodopa-induced dyskinesias represent disabling complications from long-term therapy with dopaminergic drugs for treating Parkinson's disease (PD). Although several neuroimaging studies have reported altered striatofrontal function that contributes to the emergence of these motor complications, the neuroanatomical correlates of this disorder are still unknown. Optimized voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was applied to the MRI brain images of 36 PD patients with levodopa-induced dyskinesias, 36 PD patients without levodopa-induced dyskinesias, and 32 age- and sex-matched controls. The VBM analysis comparing dyskinetic and nondyskinetic groups provided evidence of increased gray matter volume of the bilateral inferior frontal gyrus in dyskinetic patients, a finding that was more evident in patients with early-onset PD. No significant differences were detected in the dyskinetic and nondyskinetic groups when compared with the controls. Our findings suggest that the presence of dyskinesias in patients with PD is characterized by an aberrant neural plasticity that could play a role in the pathophysiology of these motor complications.
authors.affiliation: Neuroimaging Research Unit, Institute of Neurological Sciences, National Research Council, Germaneto (CZ), Italy.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cerasa
authors.forename: Demetrio
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Messina
authors.forename: Pierfrancesco
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pugliese
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Morelli
authors.forename: Pierluigi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lanza
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Salsone
authors.forename: Fabiana
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Novellino
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Nicoletti
authors.forename: Gennarina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Arabia
authors.forename: Aldo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Quattrone
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000978:Antiparkinson Agents / Q000009:adverse effects; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004409:Dyskinesia, Drug-Induced / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D007980:Levodopa / Q000009:adverse effects; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
chemical_list: D000978:Antiparkinson Agents; D007980:Levodopa